[ref. r9123324] Aarhus Universitet - PhD position in Healthy Ageing
Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Food Science programme. The position is available from 01 November 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.
TitlePhD position in Healthy Ageing
Research area and project description
The old population has increased and will continue to increase profoundly in the future. Hence, it is important to keep the population of older adults healthy and active as long as possible. Dairy products are an excellent source of proteins and minerals, such as calcium, which can help reducing the prevalence of sarcopenia (reduction of muscle mass and strength) and osteoporosis among the older population.These benefits can enhance well-being and quality of life as well as support a healthy lifestyle. However, to effectively promote the consumption of high-protein dairy products and encourage healthier food choices among healthy older adults, it is essential to understand the drivers and barriers influencing their consumption behavior among this group of consumers.
Factors that may serve as drivers for some segments can act as barriers for others. These factors might include sensory cues (e.g., taste, flavor, texture, and mouth feel), product format (drink, shot, spoonable ect.), health and satiety aspects, price, convenience, availability and accessibility.
The aim of the PhD project is to investigate the influence of the sensory-, the product and packaging cues of high-protein dairy products on perception, acceptance and the behaviour among different target groups of healthy older adults to identify the most important drivers and barriers for consumption of high-protein dairy products.Gaining a deeper understanding of older adults’ acceptance and attitude towards sensory cues of high protein dairy products, as well as identifying their drivers and barriers to consumption, can play a crucial role in influencing behavioral change within healthy older adults.
Besides Aarhus University, Arla Foods will be a partner in this PhD study. There will be a 3-months exchange of environment in the Netherlands as a part of this PhD study.- Project description. For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.
- The applicant must have a relevant Master’s degree in Food Science or Sensory and consumer science.
- The applicant must have experiences in advanced statistical analysis.
- The applicant must be experiences in planning, designing and conducting studies with humans.
- The applicant must be motivated to interact and work with older adults.
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is AgroFood Park 48, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
Contacts
Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:
- Associate Professor Ulla Kidmose, Ulla.kidmose@food.au.dk (main supervisor)
For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:
- admission.gradschool.tech@au.dk
Please follow this link to submit your application.
Application deadline is 25 August 2025 at 23:59 CEST.
Preferred starting date is 1 November 2025.
Please note:
- Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
- The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
- Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.
All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.
Please note in your application that you found the job at Jobindex